My Knight in Tennis Attire
by Happy Sondrisas
Summary: "She refocused her vision, recalling the little decoration on her pink racket, and how she was still peeking through it. A heart now outlined the mysterious figure...'Ah! I'm making a heart around Ryoma-kun'" RyoSaku -A series-
1. The Ball With Ryoma

A Tennis Heart Ornament, and Ryoma's Face on a Ball 

Sakuno Ryuzaki sighed nonchalantly while she shifted on her seat of a local park bench. Soft rain fell daintily from the sky.

The sunshine was still out though comforting her loneliness. 'Darn, why did Tomo-chan have to be sick today? I could be at her

house right now and not wallowing in self-pity' The auburn girl pouted before turning to her attention to her tennis racket with a

little heart decoration in the dead center (courtesy of Tomo-chan of course!). Swiftly picking it up by its taped grip, she gazed

at it in melancholy. It was no surprise; her thoughts soon whirled around **Him**. With her other hand, the coffee-eyed lass

clawed her fingers through the gaps inside.

Funny, that's what **He** did before a tennis match on several occasions. 'Why am I here again? Ah! That's right for tennis

practice! Or…for hope Ryoma-kun might be here…' She shook her twin-braided head vigorously making passerby glance at

her oddly. 'Darn it, Sakuno! Stop! Stop! Stop! He never looks your way, never, never…'

"NEVER!" The girl yelled before falling over; making the bench come down with her.

"SAKUNO, NO BAKA!" The said girl screeched, standing up once more. Even more passerby turned their heads (some t

urning their head the OTHER way) towards the accidental -'Oh, why me?'- Outburst.

"Mommy!! That lady's scary!!" A nearby girl cried.

"D-Don't worry sweetie." Her mother reassured.

"S-S-Sorry…" Sakuno muttered towards the circling crowd that began to gather. She blushed furiously.

"Weirdo…" Some said.

"Wow…that was strange…" Others commented.

Finally after the crowd dispersed, the twin-plaited-girl girl felt a wave of relief as she made her way back toher previous seat.

Holding up her precious stringed equipment close to her face; Sakuno peered through the little heart ornament. Paranoia

shocked through her as she pondered whether or not Ryoma might have been in the passerby. Suddenly…a short figure

(concealed by an umbrella) walked stiffly by; crunching snow beneath the soles of their shoes.

The figure stopped shortly after to observe nearby tennis players. Finally revealing his/her identity, the figure hoisted his/her

umbrella and swung it around his/her side. A white cap came into view, then a crimson jacket.

"Ryoma-kun…?" The inquisitive girl said breathless. She refocused her vision, recalling the little decoration on her racket, and

how she was still peeking through it. A heart now outlined the mysterious figure.

'AHH!! I'M…MAKING A HEART AROUND RYOMA-KUN!!' Horror struck her expression, with a scarlet blush.

The girl tried her best to toss her humiliation aside (literally) only to allow her racket to slip out of her grasp. A deafening shatter

sounded as the pink racket (now a brown) clashed into a puddle of mud. No more crowds gathered, since the park was nearly

empty now. 'Phew! Thank goodness!' The red-faced teenager shuffled her feet into the mud where the racket lay. Only to stop

dead short when she noticed a familiar tennis attire adorned by a peculiar person. Sakuno shot her gaze right up to meet liquid-

golden eyes. 'R-Ryoma-kun…'

"Hn, you're way too careless." He replied shortly. My mouth was still agape. 'Ryoma-kun? Here? AHHH!! THAT MEANS

HE SAW ME WITH THE HEART ORNAMENT!!' Her face still continued to burn.

"And illogical…you can't hit a ball right with that thing on." He continued, poking the little heart on the racket, making her

blush immensely.She was about to protest when-

"R-Ryoma-k-kun," She called out cravenly. 'Uh-oh… I-I r-recall using my t-tennis ball with R-Ryoma-kun's face on it

earlier today…' He glanced up at her awaiting an answer. 'WHAT A MINUTE… HOW DID IT END UP THERE?!…'

"I-I d-didn't mean for that b-ball…"Sakuno started her excuse slowly. He raised an eyebrow in question, and turned to reach

for the racket. He stood still, finally recognizing what she was trying to cover up. Sinking inward the puddle of mud; the heart

lay on top her Ryoma-kun-faced-ball making -

"Ryuzaki…" He responded hesitantly.

-the heart ornament outline the…

"Why…"

-ball…with Ryoma-kun's face on it. 'Oh no! So is this how I end up confessing to Ryoma-kun?!'

"Do…" AHHHHH!!'

'How will Ryoma-kun react?! The girl staggered a bit to regain composure. 'So this is it….'

"Y-y-y-yes Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno smiled warily. 'This is it!!…Ryoma-kun will finally know about my-'

"Why do you have a tennis ball with Kaidoh-Sempai's face?"

"WHAT?! K-KADIOH-SEMPAI!?" She fell down...anime style!

"YOU T-THINK I D-DREW…B-BALL…K-KADIOH-SEMPAI?!" Sakuno cried exasperated, still on the ground.

Ryoma just raised his eyebrow in utter confusion.

"R-RYOMA-KUN!! WHY ARE YOU SO DENSE?!" Sakuno yelped in frustration, waterfalls sprouting from her eyes.

She lifted herself up, running away to the nearest exit.

"Huh?" Ryoma blinked.

"ECHIZEN!" A familiar spiky-haired sempai (Momoshiro) rushed out from a bush.

"O'CHIBI!" Another crawled out revealing himself to be Eiji.

"BURNING!! ECHIZEN!! HOW DARE YOU MAKE RYUZAKI-CHAN CRY!" The other upperclassmen (with his

infamous racket in hand) scolded.

"Eh? Sempai-tachi? What are you doing here?"

'And why did Ryuzaki draw Kaidoh-sempai's face?' The tennis prodigy thought to himself with slightly angered.

"Hey look! I think O'chibi's jealous about Kadioh's face on Ryuzaki-chan's ball, nya!" Ryoma stumbled over his thoughts.

'Did Eiji-sempai say something?'

"Jealous of what?" He replied genuinely confused.

They sweat-dropped.

"ECHIZEN/O'CHIBI!! WHY ARE YOU SO DENSE?!"

**To Be Continued...**


	2. A Homesick Prince

**A Tennis Heart Ornament, and A Homesick Prince**

Ryoma Echizen sipped his grape-flavored Ponta as he strolled casually under New York City's lights.

He decided to ditch the four-star hotel to avoid the over-perfumed-conditioned air, the over-perky hotel

attendants, and of course; the over-obsessed local fan-girls. Well, at least he only had to endure it for

one more stay. His perverted-monk of a father told him he either had to stay for one more week or

return before New York's predicted blizzard (expected to be on the day after tomorrow). However,

Ryoma was far from ready for tomorrow's departure. He decided to procrastinate and sit it aside for

now, to say good-bye to the New York he knew for the time being. The sun was set half-way in the sky

ready to close the day with a startling sunset.

"Nya!..." Curious, Ryoma swiftly turned to meet a young mother and her child help a stray cat.

The mother reached for her cheap purse, and tended to the cat. Suddenly, the cat yelped under the

mother's touch.

"There,...there it'll be alright. This kitten just had a little scratch on it's cheek! See, nothing to

worry about!" She said to her child reassuringly.

'Oishi-sempai...'

The pair said their good-byes to the little cat, and went on home. Ryoma took a quick peak at the small

animal. It was curious-looking cat, with fire-blazing fur and a band-aid stretched against it's left cheek.

He could have sworn it was smiling at him.

'Eiji-sempai...'

The cat wandered off, leaving a thoughtful Echizen behind. Ryoma twitched slightly and scratched at

his chest. Still, he continued with indifference on his walk.

"AHHHHHH!! IT'S BURNING!!" He heard a nearby restaurant chief shriek in manic. Ryoma

whipped around in surprise. The man wore a oily-apron and ran towards a nearby bucket of water;

carrying with him a tray of raw sushi in flames. 'How do you set sushi on fire?' Ryoma wondered in

disbelief, still watching the distressed man.

"MY SUSHI'S BURNING!!" He shoved it into the bucket and let out a sigh of relief to see the

flicks of fire vanish.

"Son..., whatcha do this time...?" Another man spoke behind the oily-apron-man.

"Sorry Dad..." The man stuck out his lip in guilt.

"What will I ever do with you? Go serve table five. Oh! Remember to take out the soy sauce..."

The man's father voice faded away as he went back inside. The apron-man

took notice of Ryoma, and gave him a sheepish smile. The man walked into the restaurant leaving the

tennis prince in his thoughts.

'Taka-sempai...'

Ryoma twitched once again and scratched at his chest. He shrugged to himself and resumed on his

evening stroll.

"Excuse me...could you answer this one question for my school survey?" Ryoma looked up

to see a face with coke-bottle glasses and a clipboard in their hands.

"Do you think schools should have more fruit juices or soda?" Echizen immediately thought of Ponta.

"Soda."

"Hmmm...interesting data..." The boy walked away, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

'Inui-sempai...'

Ryoma twitched once more.

"Richard! May I please try that cracker you've been experimenting on?" A brown-haired boy

ran to the man with the clipboard.

"Um...sure." The clipboard boy handed him a blackened cracker. -'Why is it black?'- The

brown-haired boy took it; joyfully stuffing it inside his mouth.

"Yum! It's very delicious!" The clipboard man just blinked.

"...What...?" They walked away discussing the wonders of how a "treat" like that one be any delicious.

'Fuji-sempai...'

Ryoma scratched immensely at his chest. 'Do I have a rash or something?' He lost track of where he

was until he saw some basketball courts near some shops. Leaning against the fence in boredom, he

watched a few students play.

"You idiot! That's not the right way to shoot! You're just a stupid hedgehog-haired boy!!" One

of the students wearing a yellow-bandanna yelled.

"Who you calling hedge-hog-haired boy?!" The other with spiky-blond-hair demanded.

"You! You idiot!"

"Laundry-lady man!!"

'Kaido-sempai...'

"Porcupine!"

'Momo-sempai...'

"ENOUGH!! Run fifty laps around the courts!" A tall stoic man commanded.

"Fifty?! I didn't-"

"One hundred laps!"

'Tezuka-sempai...'

Ryoma widened his eyes in surprise, but nonetheless, continued his walk. He stopped at a tennis-sports

equipment shop where (thankfully) there was a bench to sit. The boy stared at the sky. It finally

settled down into a hue of vermilion and fiery-red. Closing his eyes in meditation, Ryoma was

interrupted to see a commercial start on a T.V. from the equipment shop. A little girl was swinging her

tennis racket without any care and seemed bored. Suddenly, a rosy-pink heart decoration appeared on

the girl's racket. Then, the girl practiced with her racket with more enthusiasm. The screen blacked out,

and Ryoma snapped back into reality. For such a lousy commercial, he was absorbed into it. His eyes

widened like saucers, and his chest began to ache all the more. Suddenly, a little girl (probably eight or

nine) dashed passed him. Ryoma's almond eyes never left her. She had trailing, black, twin-braids with

two lunch boxes at hand. Ryoma squinted to see the girl run after a young capped boy.

"Um...w-well, I-I brought y-you a lunch..." The braided girl told the boy.

"Thanks." The boy took it without another word, and the two walked off to the sunset. The

slight vibration from his pocket interrupted his thoughts. Taking out his cell phone, he answered it. He

still watched the pair.

"Hello?"

_"Ah, finally you answer your damn phone!" _

_"_Hi Dad."

"_Are you coming back tomorrow or what? Your mother won't stop nagging me to call you." _

Ryoma paid no attention, still watching the little boy and girl walk silently together. Why did this seem so familiar?

"_Shonen? Hello? Are you listening? Are you coming-" _Ryoma smirked; turning his attention back

to the **familiar** tennis-heart-ornament advertisement. His chest began to ache again. Back it faded away

when he finally spoke.

"I'm coming back."

**To be continued...**


End file.
